Podcasts classical CFO THOUGHT LEADER 708: Making FP&A Your Cross Functional Glue | Waifa Chau, CFO, Nylas

708: Making FP&A Your Cross Functional Glue | Waifa Chau, CFO, Nylas

Published: June 13, 2021, 10 p.m.

Several actions proved key as Waifa Chau advanced from financial planning and analysis (FP&A) roles to chief financial officer positions. Collaborating with other functions, gaining an in-depth understanding of the overall business, and helping his colleagues understand how FP&A benefits an organization have driven his success, says Chau, currently CFO with Nylas, Inc., a provider of productivity infrastructure solutions for software.\xa0

Cross-functional collaboration helps in gaining an understanding of a company\u2019s overall business, Chau says. While working at Gap Inc., the company behind Gap, Banana Republic, and other apparel brands, Chau focused on driving higher gross margins\u2014key in the retail industry.

Chau\u2019s curiosity about the business also helped him propel his career forward, he says. He spent about two years in a merchandising role at Gap, during which he gained a better understanding of the intricacies of operations.

Often, employees in other parts of an organization assume FP&A\u2019s primary role is to tell them when they\u2019re over or under budget, Chau says. He tried to show how a strong FP&A partner tries to understand their performance so the business can better prepare for the future.

After about seven years at Gap, Inc., Chau moved to an FP&A role at Walmart.com. In an ecommerce organization, there were \u201cdifferent levers to pull,\u201d he says. For instance, along with analyzing gross margins, he reviewed margins on grocery delivery apps.

Building on his success in FP&A, Chau set a new goal: establishing a finance team from the ground up. He joined BirdEye, a marketing platform, as vice president, finance, and advanced to CFO. Among other accomplishments, he structured the accounting and FP&A functions and determined how finance would interact with other functions.

At Nylas, Chau again is leveraging his experience to propel himself forward and establish the finance function, this time for a slightly younger and small company.


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